Former San Quentin inmate earns Cal State East Bay master's as Project Rebound grows

Commencement ceremonies wrapped up Sunday at colleges and universities around the Bay Area. At Cal State East Bay, one program marked a milestone: a record number of graduates from Project Rebound, which supports formerly incarcerated students pursuing higher education.

For many students, graduation is a chance to celebrate an accomplishment and begin a new chapter. For Forrest Jones, it is the continuation of an improbable journey.

As students walked across the stage to receive their diplomas, the moment was familiar for Jones. He did the same thing in 2023, when he became the first Cal State East Bay student to graduate through Project Rebound.

"With me, it's about transformation of incarceration, but through education," said Jones.

In the mid-1990s, after a pair of drug convictions, Jones was sentenced to life in prison under California's Three Strikes law for stealing a VCR.

While at San Quentin, Jones began writing in the prison newspaper about what he saw as the unfairness of the law. In 2012, California voters approved changes to the law, limiting life sentences under Three Strikes largely to serious or violent third-strike offenses. Jones was released after spending 20 years behind bars.

In 2020, he became one of the first members of Project Rebound at Cal State East Bay.

"I became more of a mature person. I became more of a controlled person. I thought differently. They gave me new skills...coping skills, how to deal with situations. So, the education, the advocacy work, and the therapy work is really what transformed my life," Jones said.

When Jones earned his bachelor's degree three years ago, he was one of only two Project Rebound graduates at Cal State East Bay. This year, the program had 85 students, including 20 graduates.

One of them was Jones, who accomplished another goal at age 62: earning a master's degree in social work.

"He basically set the stage for what the program looks like today," said Dr. Juleen Lam, executive director of Project Rebound at Cal State East Bay.

Lam said that, just as California's Three Strikes law has changed, so has the idea that people should be locked up and written off.

"Almost 90 percent of anybody incarcerated will eventually get out. There's been a lot of movement towards education and programming within the prison and institutions. And so, when people get out, they're really motivated to do something different. And education is oftentimes the pathway that they select," Lam said.

"I didn't know it was going to come to all this. But persistence is what it's come to," Jones said.

It is a lesson Jones now shares with men at San Quentin when he returns to visit. They see him as a role model – something he once never imagined for himself.

At this point, Jones has stopped putting limits on what comes next.

"I remember when I used to say, I'm going to 'try' to do this, or I'm going to 'try' to do that. But because of the progress I've made all this time, I'm now the kind of person who says, 'yeah, I'm going to get that done, or I'm going to do this. And it...it's not arrogance. It's just put a lot of confidence in me," Jones said.

That is why the master's degree is not the end of Jones' journey. He plans to continue toward a doctorate.

One day, he may even return to Cal State East Bay as Professor Forrest Jones.

Project Rebound has been around for decades, but Cal State East Bay's program is one of the fastest-growing in California. In the three years since Jones first graduated, 125 students have joined the program.